Loveless: My Bloody Valentine: Amazon.co.uk: Music

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Track Listings

1. Only Shallow

2. Loomer

3. Touched

4. To Here Knows When

5. When You Sleep

6. I Only Said

7. Come In Alone

8. Sometimes

9. Blown A Wish

10. What You Want

11. Soon

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

After My Bloody Valentine had undergone their massive metamorphosis from twee indie-poppers to guitar noiseniks on 1988's Isn't Anything, their eagerly anticipated follow-up was a long time coming. Rumours abounded of massive studio bills, and when the album finally arrived, it listed 18 engineering credits. At times, Loveless is 90 per cent pure studio overmatter--but that doesn't matter. Band leader Kevin Shield's element was the guitar overdub, creating an intoxicating headrush of varispeed, warped, electro-static effects. "To Here Knows When" remains unmatched as an experiment in just how much sonic dissonance a simple pop melody can bear, while Bilinda Butcher sings drowsily as if concussed by the sweet noise. Loveless isn't a case of form over content--the lyrical subject matter of dazed infatuation is perfectly illustrated by the snowblind guitar sound. After this, MBVmoved to Island and remained notoriously unproductive for years, perhaps unsure how to top this. --David Stubbs

Review

Despite this record being the best part of 20 years old, it's as dense and inpenetrable as ever. It's like trying to explain why Jackson Pollock's Full Fathom Five is what it is, or push the case for isolationist textures in modern sculpture or even trying to describe acid house to a badger. There really wasn't, and still isn't anything quite like My Bloody Valentine.

Formed in Dublin in 1984, My Bloody Valentine quickly moved from the C86 shambling indie template that had dominated that period. It took a slight shift in personnel and a contract with Creation. Within a week, the band recorded their landmark EP, You Made Me Realise, which nudged them more into the realm of the likes of Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth. Soon, giddy journos were gabbling on about sonic cathedrals and getting generally quite excited.

Within that year came the band's first 'proper' album, Isn't Anything. Shards of noise, underwater guitars and vague lyrics all combined with a certain disorientating charm. As if that wasn't accomplishment enough, three years later via drama (it nearly bankrupted Creation), delays and added expectation came Loveless. It was the album that would lift MBV into the pantheon of the greats and in a perfect universe would be battling it out between Pet Sounds and OK Computer in the greatest-album-ever-made polls.

Despite urban myth surrounding the recording - they were recording in a tent covered in duvets, they'd gotten into hip hop, all the band went mad to varying degrees - it still sounds incredible. Washes of guitars and noise overwhelm what 'songs' were actually beneath them. Having tasted the Top 41 with the staggering Soon, they released what even Brian Eno then considered the: ''most vaguest song ever'' in To Here Knows When. Creation thought the band were joking when they first heard it; sounding like someone had taped it on a wonky cassette player. In the context of Loveless, it makes sense, like one long bleary dream with almost symphonic levels of noise.

Now, the band are back and playing across the world, giving a new generation of ears a risk of tinnitus. There's talk of a new album. For the meantime, get this magnificent masterpiece and play very very loud indeed. --Ian Wade

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

Oh sorry, i drifted off.... 24 May 2004

By Matt

Format:Audio CD

Before I heard 'To Here Knows When' on The Nations Compilation on Lamaq Live, I had been living on a diet of safe and reliable music, never straying too far from the constraints of Radiohead and the like. It took a while to register, I was tired at the time, I couldn't comprehend what I was hearing.

I still can't to this day.

Well, I went out and tracked down 'Loveless', I ended up getting it on the net, but when it finally arrived, it totally changed my slant on music. 'Loveless' is a hazy, dream-inducing wave of sound, with irresistable melodies, interwoven with barely there vocals, and pulsing drums. I had never heard such use of the electric guitar until I heard My Bloody Valentine...Kevin Shields rather than Matt Bellamy is my guitar idol now, and always will be. Nothing really seems adequate in comparison with this, not these days. Maybe other 80s greats such as The J&MC, The Pixies, The Cure, and others can (especially Disintegration, Robert Smiths masterpiece)...but until someone creates music that can make you tap your foot, whilst drifting off (Soon), music that can deafen you and make you smile (Only Shallow), and music that can take you to a different world alltogether (To Here Knows When), then 'Loveless' will have to do.

Someone once said in a review that 'Loveless' is like being back in the womb...but if it is, then I'm a Buddhist being reincarnated, because I can still feel heaven...

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Staggeringly Beautiful Remasters 16 May 2012

By Stephanie Mack

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I thought I'd never actually get a copy of these remasters after waiting what seemed like an eternity for them but lo and behold I finally have them. The new sonic clarity of Loveless only makes the dense and complex layers of sounds sound even more exquisitely beautiful. I love the original CD version but this is just wondrous to listen to and it truly wipes away several layers of audio dust to reveal even more spellbinding music. A classic and timeless album.

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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5 stars for the original album 27 Mar 2010

By S. Kane

Format:Audio CD

I'm betting Jesus will have come back before the remaster of this album is released. Seriously folks, do yourselves a favour and just buy the version that's out already. The album is great, and I can't believe the quality of the mythical remaster will be so much better that it'll be worth the wait.

Loveless

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